LG to appoint RDs for Centrino notebooks

LG Electronics will be appointing Regional Distributors (RDs) for its
Centrino range of notebooks launched recently. It unveiled four models of these
notebooks–LM 40, LM 50, LS 40 and LS 50–priced between Rs 99,000 to Rs 1.4
lakh. All these models are claimed to have the longest battery life.

Elaborating on its future plans, R Manika-ndan, DGM (Sales and Marketing–IT
Pro-ducts), LG India, said that in Q2 it would be focusing on the high-end
market with the Centrino-based note-books and in Q3 and Q4 the focus would be on
high-end and medium range laptops, which would be priced approximately in the
range of Rs 70,000 to Rs 75,000.

On the channels front, LG will be appointing RDs all over the country and
would be adopting a ‘go to market’ strategy. The company will also showcase
its notebooks through its consumer appliance and home appliance retail shops.

Manikandan further informed that the kind of numbers it is looking for is
having 20 percent of the Centrino marketshare or 7,200 notebooks.

Sharing his views on why LG is not venturing into entry-level notebooks, he
commented, "The low segment in notebooks is very price sensitive and with
such low prices one can’t make any value-additions. Therefore, we are not
looking at this segment at all."

Rajeev Saxena, Head (Notebook PC and OEM Business), LG India, said that today
the entry-level notebooks market has a market share of 50 percent, whereas the
mid range and the high-end notebooks have market share of 30 and 20 percent
respectively. The company is targeting to have 20 percent market share in the
Centrino range of notebooks this fiscal where it would aim to sell around 7,500
units.

According to IDC, the total market size of notebook in 2004 is going to be
1.2 lakh units and out of this Centrino’s marketshare is expected to be around
36,000 units. And it’s this market in which LG is trying to create a niche.

According to the company, some of the unique features of its notebooks is
long battery life upto 10 hours, higher brig-htness of 200 nit and wireless
access capability with quand band. These products will be available in the
market from next week onwards.

DQW News Bureau

New Delhi